Yummy

Hey, I don't usually write about music, but today, I'd like to commend one of my very favorite bands, Cake....
In fact, I'd say that they're the best still-together group around. All of the bands from the heyday of my youth have either broken up, lost their mojo, or died...but not the Cake. They're still keepin' on, rockin' on.


I mean, Kurt Cobain killed himself; Billy Corgan started to suck; the Stone Temple Pilots became parodies of themselves....Yet, Cake is just as great as ever.

I first got into Cake during my senior year of high school. I heard the band's first hit, "The Distance", one fine summer day while cruising around in my 1988 Dodge Caravan with my friend, Wayne (mentioned in another, very recent, post). It was 88.7 FM, 89X's New Rock Alternative nightly countdown, and Cake's little song was the latest entry, entering at number nine or something. Wayne was like, "DUUUUUDE. Turn it up -- it's CAKE!"

I thought, "Whatever. Another stupid, new band that probably raps over heavy metal. Blegh."

But, boy did I end up being wrong, finding myself to thoroughly dig that tune. The almost classic-sounding guitar...the guy talking about car racing...the spot-on drumming....Here was a group that was original; it was offbeat; it seemed witty! I bought the cassette of the band's Fashion Nugget a few days later, and spent the next 47 nights driving around in circles around the northern suburban Detroit listening to all tracks over and over again.

(One of the best albums of all-time.)

Man, you can't characterize or rip off a band like Cake. It's got a friggin' TRUMPET PLAYER, for goodness sake!

Witty, original lyrics, and an overall attitude that simply has not been the domain of any rock outfit I've encountered since. Cake is a band that defies all explanation. I loved them; I have loved everything they've done since then. I would hang out with them, and offer to carry around their equipment in exchange for one moment of enlightenment from front man John McCrea.


So, I know it's a bit late, but Cake recently released their sixth album, Showroom of Compassion. YEARS in the making, this record is among the band's best. "Got to Move" is my favorite tune on the whole thing -- it's poignant and emotionally true; something to which I feel I can genuinely relate. A song my (now) ex-wife could probably have sung about me, in her own little world. It's beautiful, if misguided. How lovely; it's brought tears to me eyes on more than once occasion....

And the album's hit, Sick of You could be an anthem for MY feelings, in regards to the same problems mentioned above, at around the same time. So solid, so perfectly crafted....What a great composition.

(Look -- guys in bunny suits, standing around burning strip malls. That's DEEP, man!)

See, MOST rock bands lose their magic after four albums or so....but not Cake. No -- these guys are as interesting as ever. I can't recommend Showroom of Compassion enough.

And, get this -- the album debuted at NUMBER ONE on the Billboard charts upon its release. Can you believe that? I NEVER, in a million years, would I have thought CAKE would have a number one album.

But it was a dubious distinction. See, Cake may have debuted at NUMBER ONE, but Showroom of Compassion still broke the record for the FEWEST number of copies sold to still occupy the number one position -- about 40 thousand. Awesome. You rule, Cake! You broke number one, and still had the lowest sales record of any album to achieve that distinction. That SAYS something....

It says something about how God-awful music is today; it says something about how the album people will buy MOST on a particular week will still have sales that fall far below the norm of previous years. REAL music fans are in hiding; folks like me only venture out into the wilds of CD stores when something of substance comes around (like Cake)...and our numbers still only add up to around 40,000 or so.

Fine. Screw society at large. Those people are idiots. Us folks of GOOD TASTE will wallow in our Cake CDs while the world rots. The rest of you fine individuals may happily go pick up to whatever silly garbage is topping the I-Tunes charts this week. I'm sure it's FANTASTIC, and full of deep meaning that will enrich your lives forever and ever.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to listen to "Easy to Crash" for the 847,000th time....


And, speaking of delicious things like Cake, here's a movie for you:

Hunger (2009)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1176252/



Netflix dresciption:
Five strangers awake in an underground dungeon and discover that they've been kidnapped as part of a terrible experiment. A sadistic scientist wants to answer a simple question: What are they willing to do to survive after weeks without food? As the days go by and their hunger becomes unbearable, the captives struggle to retain their humanity. Lori Heuring, Joe Egender and Lea Kohl star in this dark examination of mankind's lowest instincts.


This here is a movie about a psychopath who kidnaps a bunch of seemingly-random people, and locks them up in an underground dungeon with no food, and a bunch of weapons. Can you guess what he's HOPING will happen???

Yeah, our mysterious madman is banking on the notion that his captors will...you know...EAT each other. WILL they do so???

Hey, this is a sick horror flick....OF COURSE, they will!

Hunger is about as simple as it gets, which is why this review will be so short. I mean, what is there to say, really? A group of six or seven people have some blunt instruments, a scalpel, and NO FOOD, as they watch a clock tick that SEEMS to suggest when they'll be released from their subterranean prison in...oh, about a month or so. It's a race against time here; SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST, folks.

Sure enough, our heroes split into two camps: those who ARE willing to kill and eat other people to survive, and those who are not. The psychopath who is keeping them in this prison (and watching their every move via a closed circuit camera system) sure does love the drama!

But, are WE interested in watching people eat each other???

(Incidentally, also the best way to prepare SPAM.)

Meh, kinda. I mean, Hunger is well-acted, and features some fairly compelling ideas. However, at the end of the day, it's just kind of an uninspired film. A Saw rip-off, if I ever did see one....

There is, indeed, a Final Girl who manages to escape in the end (woops -- did I say, SPOILERS???), but we frankly don't care about her all that much. And the OTHER characters (that is, the ones who, like, try to EAT HER) aren't exactly compelling, either. Sadly, Hunger is just kind of paint-by-the-numbers.

It's well-made and slick enough, but not particularly compelling. Actually, what I REALLY wanted to know was more about the motivations of our psycho killer, the guy who is keeping all of these folks in his little dungeon. Sure, we delve a LITTLE BIT into his psyche; but not nearly enough. WHO IS this man??? Inquiring minds want to know....

But, in the end, Hunger is just BARELY crosses the line into fairly interesting territory. Is it original? -- No. Is it interesting?? -- Mmmm, slightly. Is it scary??? Only a little.

Watch only if you're into the whole Fangoria thing. Otherwise, this one is overall quite ho-hum. It definitely will HARDLY blow your mind....

3 out of 5.

b.